Chandigarh mayoral elections postponed, AAP-Congress protest allege BJP misusing government apparatus

Chandigarh [India], January 18 : In a scathing attack on the BJP, AAP MP Sandeep Pathak alleged that the saffron party was misusing the government apparatus after the Chandigarh mayoral election which was to be held on Thursday was postponed.
In a social media post on X, Sandeep Pathak stated, "Staring at its inevitable defeat, the BJP has started its dirty tricks machinery in Chandigarh. If this is the kind of election system we have in the country, then it's highly discouraging. The BJP is misusing the government apparatus. We will not let them succeed."
The date of the Chandigarh mayoral elections, which were scheduled to be held today (Thursday), were pushed back citing "ill health" of the designated presiding officer.
The announcement triggered protests by the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, who had formed an alliance for the mayoral elections.
Meanwhile, AAP MP Raghav Chadha also reached the Municipal Corporation Office and while speaking to media personnel, he claimed that BJP wanted the election postponed with fear of defeat.

"Seeing their defeat in front of them, the scared and freaked out BJP wants to cancel the elections. Everyone knows that the INDIA alliance has clear majority in this election. This is the first faceoff between BJP and INDIA alliance and in this election. Earlier, they made the secretary fall sick and then today they made the presiding officer fall sick. It seems that entire BJP has fallen sick after facing INDIA alliance. And does BJP want to give a message that the democratic system of the country is so weak that the election will be conducted only when the BJP will be in a position to win else the election will be cancelled," said Raghav Chadha.
"BJP is now like a child who once gets out in gully-cricket, takes away his bat saying that I will not let the match happen. Does BJP want to make this country North Korea that the elections are cancelled. I want to say that if INDIA alliance keeps on fighting like this, then that day is not far when the BJP will have to run from 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well," he added.
The AAP MP further said that Congress and AAP have together decided that we will approach the High Court and try our best that the mayor elections are held in which BJP is clearly facing a defeat.
"We appeal election authorities that if the presiding officer has fallen sick then appoint some other presiding officer but if the election is not held today then it will clearly show how scared BJP is," he said.
Earlier, Chandigarh Congress President, Harmohinder Singh Lucky, said while speaking to media personnel, "The Mayor elections were supposed to be held today, and the INDIA alliance partners--AAP and Congress--had allied for this. AAP was going to contest for the Mayor seat while Congress was contesting for Senior Deputy Mayor. We have 20 councilors while they (BJP) only have 15 and after seeing this, they are trying to postpone the polls."

"Earlier, when we wanted to withdraw the Mayor candidate, the secretary fell ill and then the secretary was changed later on. Now a circular is being circulated that the presiding officer, Anil Masih, has fallen ill. It is not him who has fallen ill but the entire BJP. The operation Lotus has failed in Chandigarh," he added.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal said that BJP had all of this already planned, as they wanted to win the elections at any cost but they lack the numbers to win.

"I just came to know that Anil Masih, who was appointed as presiding officer for today, has been hospitalised. This makes it clear that they (BJP) want to postpone the elections because the new officer cannot be appointed instantly. They were saying that BJP will win, and this shows that they had all of this already planned so that the elections are not held today. This is completely non-democratic. They already knew that they are not in a strong position and that they are lacking in numbers, as we have 20 councillors and they have 15 so they made the presiding officer fall sick. They had done the same thing with the secretary earlier," said Bansal.
He also spoke about the possibility of approaching the court in this regard.
"They did not choose an alternate option as their motive is to get the election cancelled," said Bansal.
Congress and Aam Aadmi Party had decided to jointly contest the Chandigarh Mayor elections.